Economy

As anticipated by LEAP/E2020 last February in the GEAB No. 42, the second half of 2010 is really characterized by a sudden worsening of the crisis marked by the end of the illusion of recovery maintained by Western leaders and the thousands of billions swallowed up by the banks and the economic "stimulation" plans of no lasting effect. The coming months will reveal a simple, yet especially painful reality: the Western economy, and in particular that of the United States, never really came out of recession.

US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has issued his harshest attack to date on China’s currency policy, the latest move in an escalating superpower clash across the gamut of commercial and strategic relations.

China and Russia and some of the other developing nations have been proposing a reformulated SDR, with less US dollar content, a broader representation of currencies, and the inclusion of gold and silver, as a suitable replacement for the US dollar as the global reserve currency.

The US and UK are opposing the SDR as replacement to the US dollar as the new global reserve currency. They prefer to delay and postpone the discussions, and to maintain the status quo for as long as is possible to support their primacy in the financial markets. Control of the money supply is a huge hand on the levers of financial and political power.

Alan Greenspan had full knowledge of his betrayal to the principles of sound money. He wrote early in his career about the only legitimate basis for a monetary system, namely Gold. His published works from four decades ago read like an indictment against his career for monetary crimes against the nation. His accommodation, giving the financial sector what they wanted, betrayed his mindset. He knew the nation courted disaster with a long delayed fuse. His quote is being circulated frequently and broadly lately, "Gold is the canary in the financial coal mine." Exactly, precisely, perfectly. Greenspan proved to be a great handler of the politicians, offering them obfuscation of the most erudite variety. They were so confused by his drivel to be immensely impressed.

Welch said that he believed inequality was destructive only when "the low-wage citizenry views society as unfair, when it views effort as not worthwhile, when upward mobility is impossible or so unlikely that its pursuit is not worthwhile." Colleen's comment would appear to suggest that the first of these conditions has not been met. But that's only because I omitted what she went on to say: "But what I would like is to be able to take a day off now and then … if I had to … and still be able to buy groceries the next day." Colleen may not begrudge the rich the material goods they've acquired through skill, effort, and sheer chance, but that doesn't mean she thinks her own labors secure her an adequate level of economic security. Clearly, they don't.

Energy

It was well known that the legendary Vertesi plant and its mine were kept afloat only by more than $30 million in annual state subsidies. But more than 3,000 of Oroszlany’s 20,000 residents work in industries related to coal. The government-owned plant is one of the town’s biggest taxpayers. And the area’s 5,000 homes, its stores and its factories all get their heat from the Vertesi plant.

The competition, which began in 2007 with 136 vehicles from 111 teams, required that the vehicles achieve 100 miles per gallon or the energy equivalent. While two of winning vehicles reached that goal with electric power plants, the top winner did it with an internal combustion engine.

BP said that tests showed there was no cement, oil or gas in the annulus at the interception point, so there was no need to first pump heavy drilling mud into the annulus through the relief well, a procedure known as a bottom kill.

BP said it expected the damaged well to be completely sealed by Saturday. Once it is sealed, the statement said, crews will begin standard procedures to abandon the well.

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